Discover the challenges and pitfalls awaiting occupational social workers in the coming years!Social Services in the Workplace: Repositioning Occupational Social Work in the New Millennium will help you meet the challenges that the rapidly changing world of work today presents. These challenges offer new opportunities for you as a social work professional in general and for the field of occupational social work in particular. Globalizing economies, downsizing, rightsizing, mergers, and corporate acquisitions continue to challenge work organizations and impact the lives of workers and their families. These trends have led to an increased need for the provision of social work services to employed, unemployed, and transitional workers and their families, and to businesses of all types and sizes. To meet the challenges facing the world of work in the 21st century, the social work profession must put special emphasis on the diverse roles that social workers can take in the workplace--from the micro to the macro--both within workplace settings and in the context of more traditional local, national and global agencies.Social Services in the Workplace proposes an expanded paradigm for social work practice in the context of the workplace, spanning the gamut from corporate and union settings to 'workfare'or welfare-to-work programs. It provides a wide array of theoretical, conceptual, and empirical examinations of evolving and innovative roles that the social work profession can fulfill in the world of work. Given today's volatile global market conditions, which dictate rapid changes in the organization and conditions of work, Social Services in the Workplace examines opportunities and dilemmas for the social work profession and points to the paths that the profession must take in the near future to remain viable.Social Services in the Workplace focuses on: defining domains for practice techniques that work and aspects to emphasize in various workplace environments provision of social work services to workers and their families welfare-to-work programs formulating organizational policies and procedures Social Services in the Workplace: Repositioning Occupational Social Work in the New Millennium brings into focus the practice of social work in the workplace. With this book, social work students and practitioners can gain a new perspective on the field and learn of new opportunities for employment and practice in the world of work. Academicians can use the book in their Social Work Practice classes, and researchers will discover ideas that will spark innovative research in this field. Corporate executives and human resource managers will gain a new understanding of how the social work profession can benefit their employees, their families, and the work organization. No matter which of these categories you fit into, Social Services in the Workplace will shed light on this expanding field.

At the heart of both the international expansion of social work and the restructuring of social work in Britain are a number of key questions: What is social work? How relevant is its value base to practice? How can its values be operationalized? What distinguishes the social work profession from a 'mere' social work occupation? What is (or should be) the relationship between social work practice and the State? Who determines and controls what the service user needs are, how those needs are met, and which services are delivered? This book addresses these questions by looking at a number of case studies where local social work and welfare projects have had to develop in response to extreme circumstances, including social work and war, social work under conditions of occupation, and social work under military regimes. With international contributions, the book shows how social work responses "in extremis" offer valuable experiences and lessons which can enrich mainstream social work theo

Vital information on family services, custody, and access rights for gay parents!Queer Families, Common Agendas: Gay People, Lesbians, and Family Values examines the real life experience of those affected by current laws and policies regarding homosexual families. The book will help policy makers, lawyers, social workers, and the general public better understand these families. Here you will be able to compare the progress of policy in the U.S. and Canada for gay and lesbian parents and their children and explore relevant legal approaches in the two countries. In Queer Families, Common Agendas: Gay People, Lesbians, and Family Values, a range of strategies for advancing the rights of sexual minority parents are considered for legal feasibility and political viability. You will gain insight into the contradictions in policies and practices that ultimately disadvantage children based on their family origins, and you will discover alternative approaches for improved services to homosexual families. Queer Families, Common Agendas explores: family law and protection of women-headed households legal definitions of motherhood and fatherhood in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom family and adoption idealogies concerning gay families and their rights to adopt new ways to make social services responsive to minority families the lesbian and gay "agenda" the value of family and the family of values--as opposed to the worn-out phrase "family values" Queer Families, Common Agendas serves as a primer to assist you in understanding the legal struggles that lesbian and gay families are facing today. You will explore concerns about family law, protection of women-headed households, motherhood, fatherhood, adoption and family ideology, and how to make social services responsive to gay and lesbian families. This excellent reference provides you with the necessary background and techniques to create services that are responsive and effective with sexual minority families.

Discover why social work must be restructured if it is to remain viable Social Work: Seeking Relevancy in the Twenty-First Century provides you with a critical examination of the major issues that social work education and practice must confront if social work is to remain as a mainline profession. The book explores issues that are not normally covered in social work literature, such as the challenge of reconstructing the social work profession, the use of technology in social work, and the tension surrounding various social work education curriculums. You will benefit from this thorough discussion of the many problems that the social work profession is facing: a lack of scholarly research, inadequate educational programs, and the use of hypertechnology to educate social work students.Social Work: Seeking Relevancy in the Twenty-First Century examines the epistemological, theoretical, socio/technical, and practice directions that social work has branched into. You'll discover that today's central direction for social work is generated from liberal, postmodern, and increasingly feminist ideological perspectives. In a field where conceptual and theoretical input rarely allow for intellectual diversity, this volume demonstrates that several views are best for inquiry and exploration in social work.Issues discussed include: examining real or unreal social work values by separating them from beliefs, preferences, norms, attitudes, and opinions creating social work course outlines that incorporate practices developed around the globe, allowing for more conceptual and theoretical growth within the field realizing the tremendous difference between communication in the instrumental sense via technology, and in the affective, soul-oriented sense via personal interaction investigating the negative effects of communicating with hypertechnology (modems, e-mail) in the social work profession realizing the need for a greater quantity and quality of social work research to progress further in the fieldSocial Work: Seeking Relevancy in the Twenty-First Century invites you to reinvent social work for today's post-industrial and post-modern era. You will discover a series of challenges that social work must meet and overcome if it is to move into the new century as a relevant and viable profession. You will explore solutions such as increasing scholarship and research among social workers, and decreasing the use of technology (for example, classes held via the Internet) in social work education programs in order to increase the quality of the social work profession.

Clinical Work and Social Action: An Integrative Approach develops a paradigm for social work and human services practice that integrates clinical work and social action. Social workers, clinicians, activists, and educators will explore ways to create harmony in the divisions that currently exist between values, theory, and practice, thereby reducing conflicts in their work. This book identifies central values and selected theoretical ideas for a new model of work that you can adapt to your practice setting. Separate chapters include case material related to work with people of color, work with oppressed populations, and classroom teaching. Clinical Work and Social Action connects the historic split between clinical work and social action to better serve the people with whom you work. Through Clinical Work and Social Action, you will find valuable suggestions and insights into how you can integrate values, theory, and practice as the basis for a new model of work. The book includes topics such as: exposing the myth that "politics" has no place in practice with individual clients and families and demonstrates that all practice is political examining a new paradigm for practice that encourages change at the individual, agency, and social policy levels demonstrating the importance of Paulo Freire's ideas about dialogical praxis to social welfare work teaching a model of practice that facilitates and promotes involvement and open dialogue with people in the community and students in the classroom offering insight into how you can respond to the full range of your clients'concerns, such as racism, classism, homophobia, domestic violence, homelessness, disabilities, and emotional difficulties exploring how your values, theories, training and experience affect the choice of interventions you make with individuals, groups, and familiesTo bridge the gap between clinical work and social action, you must develop a practice that includes the possibility of social change. With Clinical Work and Social Action, you will find many case studies and examples to help you do just that. This informative book provides you with ways to work with clients to bring about individual and social change and offers strategies for creating change in social agencies and communities.

Clinical Work and Social Action: An Integrative Approach develops a paradigm for social work and human services practice that integrates clinical work and social action. Social workers, clinicians, activists, and educators will explore ways to create harmony in the divisions that currently exist between values, theory, and practice, thereby reducing conflicts in their work. This book identifies central values and selected theoretical ideas for a new model of work that you can adapt to your practice setting. Separate chapters include case material related to work with people of color, work with oppressed populations, and classroom teaching. Clinical Work and Social Action connects the historic split between clinical work and social action to better serve the people with whom you work. Through Clinical Work and Social Action, you will find valuable suggestions and insights into how you can integrate values, theory, and practice as the basis for a new model of work. The book includes topics such as: exposing the myth that "politics" has no place in practice with individual clients and families and demonstrates that all practice is political examining a new paradigm for practice that encourages change at the individual, agency, and social policy levels demonstrating the importance of Paulo Freire 's ideas about dialogical praxis to social welfare work teaching a model of practice that facilitates and promotes involvement and open dialogue with people in the community and students in the classroom offering insight into how you can respond to the full range of your clients'concerns, such as racism, classism, homophobia, domestic violence, homelessness, disabilities, and emotional difficulties exploring how your values, theories, training and experience affect the choice of interventions you make with individuals, groups, and familiesTo bridge the gap between clinical work and social action, you must develop a practice that includes the possibility of social change. With Clinical Work and Social Action, you will find many case studies and examples to help you do just that. This informative book provides you with ways to work with clients to bring about individual and social change and offers strategies for creating change in social agencies and communities.

This text develops key topics in social work and social policy relating to exclusion, social divisions and control in welfare. It provides theoretical tools for students, academics and professionals whose work involves them in supporting the political agency of excluded groups. At a time when there have been profound shifts in the organization of welfare and the underpinning theories of the associated professions, the book tackles issues such as: the move away from publicly funded welfare; the loss of a public service ethic; reduction of input from professionals in policy; loss of professional skills; and the increase in bureaucracy. The book aims to open up the debate in social justice and anti-oppressive practice.

This text develops key topics in social work and social policy relating to exclusion, social divisions and control in welfare. It provides theoretical tools for students, academics and professionals whose work involves them in supporting the political agency of excluded groups. At a time when there have been profound shifts in the organization of welfare and the underpinning theories of the associated professions, the book tackles issues such as: the move away from publicly funded welfare; the loss of a public service ethic; reduction of input from professionals in policy; loss of professional skills; and the increase in bureaucracy. The book aims to open up the debate in social justice and anti-oppressive practice.

Social Work: An introduction to contemporary practice has quickly established itself as a leading and uniquely comprehensive introduction to the field. Essential knowledge and skills are examined with authority and depth, and key debates approached in an accessible, informative and engaging way. Underpinned by research and advice to make close illustrative links with practice, it stimulates interest and actively engages the reader. Richly supported throughout with examples and real-life case scenarios, the text encourages the reader to adopt a critical and reflective approach. Furthermore, believing that social work exists to help people through complex and painful transitions in life, the authors set the relationship at the heart of social work practice. This text is essential reading for social work students on undergraduate and postgraduate training programmes, newly qualified social workers and practitioners in a variety of settings

New edition of our best-selling book which helps social workers gain a comprehensive understanding of how to achieve best practice in applying the Care Act 2014. It covers the key stages of the 'care and support journey' - first contact, assessment of needs, prevention, consideration of eligibility, charging and financial assessment, care and support planning, and review. In addition, other chapters look at significant issues such as safeguarding and working with NHS colleagues. The core aims are to provide the following: a solid foundation for social work students in developing a critical understanding of the Care Act and its application, the material to help experienced social workers with developing the critical reflection necessary to enhance their ability to make professional judgements a source of reference which social workers can use to evaluate their local systems, policies and procedures. The second edition also provides practice examples of mistakes that have been made in applying the Care Act and the statutory guidance. It sets out more considered description of how social workers might apply the statutory guidance on personal budgets.

This handbook explores the rapid growth in childhood developmental disabilities (DD) treatments. It reviews current evidence-based treatments for common psychopathologies and developmental disorders and evaluates the strengths of the treatments based on empirical evidence. Spanning infancy through the transition to young adulthood, chapters provide definitions, etiologies, prevalence, typical presentation and variants, assessment and diagnostic information, and age considerations. Chapters also review established and emerging psychological approaches and pharmacotherapies for cognitive, behavioral, emotional, medical, academic, and developmental issues as diverse as mood disorders, the autism spectrum, memory problems, feeding disorders, Tourette syndrome, and migraines. The wide range of topics covered aids practitioners in working with the complexities of young clients' cases while encouraging further advances in an increasingly relevant field. Topics featured in this handbook include: An introduction to Applied Behavior Analysis. Parent training interventions. Treatment strategies for depression in youth. Assessment and treatment of self-injurious behaviors in children with DD. Treatment approaches to aggression and tantrums in children with DD. Interventions for children with eating and feeding disorders. The Handbook of Childhood Psychopathology and Developmental Disabilities Treatment is a must-have resource for researchers, graduate students, clinicians, and related therapists and professionals in clinical child and school psychology, pediatrics, social work, developmental psychology, behavioral therapy/rehabilitation, child and adolescent psychiatry, and special education.

Gangs have spread throughout the entire sector of society, and what was once viewed as an inner-city problem can now be found everywhere, including suburbia. This guide for teenagers, their families, and impacted communities addresses the youth gang issue in understandable, manageable terms. Quotes from teens themselves provide valuable insight into the problems that can cause kids to join gangs: absent parents, the need for excitement or to belong to a group, following in the footsteps of family members who are involved in gangs. These factors and others are explored (including an examination of the workings of the adolescent mind), and sound solutions are suggested to help kids resist gang membership.

Four distinct sections bring into focus the topic of youth gangs and ways to prevent kids from joining them. Part I describes many basic issues and needs all teens and pre-teens have in common and how these relate to gangs. Part II addresses how and why certain young people enter and sometimes exit gang alliances. Part III focuses on how several integral components of the teen's life and community can work together to resolve youths' involvement with gangs. Part IV analyzes the critical influence of families and the teens themselves as they approach important life choices. Wiener's unique approach includes suggestions and comments from the young people themselves to try to bridge the gap between themselves and the adults in their lives.

Created to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Bailey and Brake's seminal text Radical Social Work (1975), this volume seeks to explore the radical tradition within social work and assess its legacy, relevance and prospects. With a foreword by Roy Bailey, the book brings together leading academics within social work in Britain to reflect on the legacy of Radical Social Work (both the original text and the wider social movement) within social work education, theory and practice. With the current issues facing social work in Britain, this book examines the radical tradition to assert that 'another social work is possible'.

Social workers and other social care professionals regularly face the challenges of working with people with alcohol and other drug problems. Yet many receive little, if any, training for working with these issues. As substance use and its social impact on communities and families rises up the political agenda, this book offers a timely support for social workers and other social care staff working in this area. Supporting people with alcohol and drug problems addresses the current gap in social work and social care education. It provides a combination of research evidence, policy frameworks, and practical hints and tips for good social work practice. Based around practice examples supplied by social workers from both adults' and children's social care, it combines knowledge with action. It also provides an important introduction to the evidence base on assessment, intervention and partnership working with specialist substance use colleagues. This book is for all those working in children's and adults' social work and social care settings who are working with people who use, or have problems with, alcohol and other drugs.

Solution-based casework is an approach to assessment, case planning, and case management that combines what we know from clinical social work with what we value about sound social work practice. It is grounded in family-centered social work and draws from clinical approaches within social work and mental health. By integrating problem- and solution-focused approaches that form the clinical and social work traditions, treatment partnerships are more easily formed between family, caseworker, and service provider.

Solution-Based Casework is a skill-based, practice-oriented text that provides the specific guidance that students and new practitioners need in order to make sense quickly of the complex tasks of assessment and case planning in child welfare. The book flows out of a long practice experience, and was developed in consultation with workers and supervisors who were attempting to remedy problems viewed as contributing to recurrent abuse and neglect. It seeks to end adversarial relationships in casework and advocates case plans based on specific outcome skills rather than on those written with vague outcome goals measuring attendance in counseling. It serves as a common conceptual framework for integrating disparate segments of a response network, thereby allowing all providers in a therapeutic system to work toward common goals.

The text is divided into three sections. In Section I the conceptual history and theoretical foundations of solution-based casework are presented so that the reader can place this approach to casework within the ongoing professional conversation about what constitutes sound practice. Section II addresses issues of assessment and case planning. Section III focuses on case management issues and how treatment team members experience a solution-based casework approach.

Solution-based casework is an approach to assessment, case planning, and case management that combines what we know from clinical social work with what we value about sound social work practice. It is grounded in family-centered social work and draws from clinical approaches within social work and mental health. By integrating problem- and solution-focused approaches that form the clinical and social work traditions, treatment partnerships are more easily formed between family, caseworker, and service provider.

Solution-Based Casework is a skill-based, practice-oriented text that provides the specific guidance that students and new practitioners need in order to make sense quickly of the complex tasks of assessment and case planning in child welfare. The book flows out of a long practice experience, and was developed in consultation with workers and supervisors who were attempting to remedy problems viewed as contributing to recurrent abuse and neglect. It seeks to end adversarial relationships in casework and advocates case plans based on specific outcome skills rather than on those written with vague outcome goals measuring attendance in counseling. It serves as a common conceptual framework for integrating disparate segments of a response network, thereby allowing all providers in a therapeutic system to work toward common goals.

The text is divided into three sections. In Section I the conceptual history and theoretical foundations of solution-based casework are presented so that the reader can place this approach to casework within the ongoing professional conversation about what constitutes sound practice. Section II addresses issues of assessment and case planning. Section III focuses on case management issues and how treatment team members experience a solution-based casework approach.

"Effective Staff Training in Social Care" provides a theoretical framework for training and professional development, focusing on group learning in a social care context. It tackles the tensions and dilemmas of those engaged in training amidst a climate of change and a mixed economy of welfare and examines how these influence both the trainer and the learner.

This book is a practical and thoughtful guide for the forensic interview of children, presenting a synthesis of the empirical and theoretical knowledge necessary to understand the account of child victims of abuse or witnesses of crime. It is a complex task to interview children who are suspected of being abused in order to gather their stories, requiring the mastery of many skills and knowledge. This book is a practical one in that constant links are made between the results of the research and their relevance for the interventions made when interviewing child victims of abuse or witnesses of crime and in understanding their accounts. This book also presents in a detailed and concrete way the revised version of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD-R) Protocol, a forensic structured interview guide empirically supported by numerous studies carried out in different countries. The step-by-step explanations are illustrated with a verbatim interview with a child, as well as other tools to help the interviewer to prepare and handle an efficient and supportive interview. Conducting Interviews with Child Victims of Abuse and Witnesses of Crime is essential reading for stakeholders in the justice, social and health systems as well as anyone likely to receive allegations from children such as educators or daycare staff. Although the NICHD-R Protocol is intended for forensic interviewers, the science behind its development and application is relevant to all professionals working with children.

Reason and Rationality in Health and Human Services Delivery is the first book to discuss the topic of decisionmaking and services from a multidisciplinary approach. It uses theory and social considerations, not just technology, as a basis for improved services. Health and human service students and professionals will learn how to form rational and reasonable decisions that take their clients'cultural backgrounds into consideration when identifying an illness or appropriating any kind of intervention. With a particular emphasis on theories, models, organizational settings, technologies, and practitioner training methods that lead to culturally sensitive decisions, Reason and Rationality will help you deliver efficient and improved medical and social services to clients from all ethnic backgrounds. Recognizing reason as the centerpiece of most of Western philosophy, this text reveals how our idea of truth, fact, and order are wrongly thought to be universal; yet, Western principles are continually used in the decision-making process for health and social services. Focusing on the policy implications of decisionmaking in medical and social service settings, this text works to incorporate a broad range of factors into the reasoning process, such as cultural traditions and beliefs, that will result in better treatment for patients. Giving you suggestions and strategies for upgrading reasoning and decision-making processes and applying them to every area of service, Reason and Rationality discusses different themes that will help you improve services to patients, such as: the rationale currently used to justify decision-making strategies concerning medical and human services using computer technology to make clinical assessments revising administrative structure, management theories, and organizational strategies so that decision-making processes enhance the overall quality of service delivery how the practitioner/patient relationship is important in choosing the proper treatment soliciting community-based input to assess the public s health and human service needs in order to lessen political involvement in decision-making stages In addition, Reason and Rationality provides information and examples that show why you should consider the "life-world"--the values, beliefs, and commitments of a culture s history-- as the key to understanding the powers of reasoning that specify parameters of health and illness.

Learn the latest and most effective strategies and ideas so you can accurately research oppressed and minority populations Social Work with Minority and Oppressed Populations: Methodological Issues and Innovations provides social workers, social work researchers, and graduate students with new methodologies for researching topics related to minority and oppressed populations. You will learn how to conduct research with such special populations as ethnic and racial minorities, elders, women, and gay and bisexual men utilizing proven techniques that will yield more precise data and help retain participants in the research program.A must for anyone involved in the field of social work, Social Work with Minority and Oppressed Populations tackles the unique challenges you may face in conducting research with cross-culture populations. This valuble text offers innovative and practical techniques for this type of research, including: methodological issues addressed within the framework of operationalization and conceptualization, measurement, research design, data collection, and data analysis how using the anonymous enrollment technique can be applied to intervention research to engage and retain respondents in case studies how Rasch Analysis, a statistical method, may discern differences in the subjective experiences of members of different racial groups specific examples of how constituent involvement in research projects enhances access to respondents and increases the validity of data why social work practitioners as well as social work researchers must evaluate their knowledge, attitudes, and skills when dealing with cross-cultural populations Discussions on ethical and political issues This compilation of research on methodological issues not only introduces you to new techniques for working with oppressed or minority populations, but also creates new questions and areas of study, such as how to develop culture-specific instruments that better measure depression and its expression among African-American and white populations. Social Work with Minority and Oppressed Populations will provide you with the correct methods and strategies to research cross-culture populations and enable you to address specific problems that different ethnic groups and minorities face.

Since the first edition was published in 2003, an enormous amount of research into Asperger Syndrome (AS) and autism spectrum disorders has been conducted. New genetic and epigenetic theories, updated findings on viable therapies, and targeted skill-building programs provide a solid foundation of information for professionals to use in practice and impart to concerned families. The Second Edition of Asperger Syndrome synthesizes the current state of the field, beginning with the controversy over the proposed linking of the condition with autism in the DSM-5. This comprehensive guide gives readers a deeper understanding of the disorder, detailing the effective strategies and therapies available to improve the lives of young people with AS and ensure their successful transition from childhood to adolescence to adulthood. Focusing on core deficit and treatment areas, expert contributors analyze the evidence base on behavioral and pharmacological interventions as well as educational strategies geared toward bolstering cognitive and social skills. In addition to epidemiology, etiology, diagnosis, and assessment, this volume offers the most current information on: Counseling and other therapeutic strategies for children with AS and their families. Early intervention for children and youth with AS. Social skills instruction for children with AS. Evaluating evidence-based instruction for children with AS. Comprehensive education-based mental health services for students diagnosed on the autism spectrum. Practical advice for families, from a parent of a child with AS. The Second Edition of Asperger Syndrome is an essential reference for researchers, clinicians, and scientist-practitioners in clinical child, school, and developmental psychology; child and adolescent psychiatry; education; rehabilitation medicine/therapy; social work; and pediatrics.

First published in 1998. This volume is IX in the international library of sociology collection and focuses on social casework principles and practice. The text attempts to describe some of the main problems facing caseworkers as they both try to help their clients and to theorize about their methods and objectives to discern the knowledge they use and apply; and to appraise the significance of the social agencies in which they work.